Syllabus    Schedule    Projects    Handouts

REFERENCES

1. W3School HTML tutorials: http://www.w3schools.com/html/
2. WordPress: https://codex.wordpress.org/WordPress_Quick_Start_Guide
3. Comprehensive and official HTML5 guide: https://www.w3.org/TR/html5/
4. HTML5 and CSS3 tutorials: http://www.html5andcss3.org/

COURSE GOALS
This class has sometimes been referred to as the web design class. Though not 100% accurate, it’s not a total misrepresentation either. So, why a web design class in the English Department? What is the difference between a web design class in the Computer Science Department and one in English? Let’s consider a few other questions first.

What is digital media? What is the difference between digital media and its print counterpart? What is digital rhetoric? Digital media is arguably the first real revolution in publishing since Guttenberg, and digital rhetoric is arguably the first text-based rhetorical innovation since then. Digital media production, simply put, means creating content for publishing on the web. Central to digital media production and to this class is the concept of digital rhetoric. Digital rhetoric is more than just writing for electronic delivery. In addition to the familiar rhetorical concepts in oral and print media such as invention, arrangement, memory, style, delivery, ethos, pathos, logos, kairos, etc., digital rhetoric also involves such aspects as coding, navigation, typography, imagery, layout, markup, user interaction, and so on. Coding (in a digital media production class), a not-so-endearing concept to many newbies in programming or web design, is itself like making pen and paper in an analogous class on the print medium.

This naturally begs the question: why reinventing the wheel when we have all those ready WYSIWYG tools (such as WordPress)? Well, I personally believe that knowing why in addition to knowing how will help you with your know-how. Understanding how web pages work behind the scenes will better enable you to construct web pages and other digital delivery more effectively. This is sort of like learning the English grammar even though you know how to speak or write perfectly grammatical sentences. Besides, the value of learning the coding is in the process of learning itself, of understanding the intricacies of the rhetoric behind the design. This class is less about making a website than understanding how web design is informed and shaped by rhetorical principles.

ATTENDANCE & PARTICIPATION
Class participation is mandatory. A big part of your learning will come from class discussions and group work. In addition, much work, especially group work, will be done in class. If you’re not there, you’re not contributing. Therefore, regular attendance is expected. Absences beyond 1 may affect your final grade at the instructor’s discretion. Five or more absences will result in a final grade of F.

COURSE ASSIGNMENTS
Course assignments consist of two major aspects: 1) theoretical/rhetorical aspects, in which I typically require you to analyze, critique, justify, or simply explain something, such as a website or a design concept; 2) practical aspects, which are often coding assignments.

Setting up a Web Account (0 Points)
Option 1: Use sites.gsu.edu
Every GSU student has some free web space at https://sites.gsu.edu/. You can create an account there anytime.

Option 2: Obtain a domain name and hosting account
There’re many web hosts out there. You might want to do some comparison shopping.

White Paper (300 Points)
This assignment has two parts:
Part I: Online Paper (200 Points)
Pick a concept related to digital design. Do research on this concept. Then write an informative paper that includes a definition, background and history, main principles associated with it, and resources on the concept. Your paper should be somewhere between 1500 and 2500 words. You’ll design this paper online (to be hosted on your website).

Part II: Oral Presentation (100 Points)
You’ll present a summary of the white paper to your class and teach your classmates about this particular design concept.

Good Design Justification (200 Points)
Identify a website that is well designed or that has one or more aspects extremely well designed. Write a justification report why you think this is a very effective design.

Digital Profile (100 Points)
Create a digital profile of yourself. The nature of this profile should be professional and should serve the overall purposes of the online portfolio. It should be somewhere between 500 and 1000 words, with appropriate headings.

Online Portfolio (400 Points)
For this project, you will create an online portfolio that will effectively market you for your career goals. The content of the portfolio will depend on what you want to do after you graduate from the current program. If you’re a Master’s student, for example, you may pursue further study at the PhD level, or apply for a teaching position in the academia, or seek a position in the industry such as technical writer, newspaper reporter, or journal editor. If you’re a PhD student, most likely you will be seeking teaching positions, although industry jobs are also a possibility. Your portfolio will then be effectively tailored to your career objective.

Important*
A passing grade for all the assignments is a prerequisite to, but not a guarantee for, passing the course. Observe the following rules closely:

• You must complete all the major assignments. If you miss any of the projects, you will automatically fail the class.
• Your reports and assignments should be presentable. If you hand in poorly proofread documents, they will be returned to you for correction before they are graded.
• If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out the assignments you missed. An excused absence will not get you off the hook for a tardy assignment.
• A Special Note: Submit your work on time. Late assignments are generally NOT accepted unless for extenuating circumstances. Work is considered late after class begins on the due date, unless noted otherwise. In cases where late work is accepted, there is a 10% grade reduction for each day your assignment is late.
• All projects must be submitted electronically via email unless you’re instructed otherwise.

Plagiarism
No plagiarism or any other forms of academic dishonesty will be tolerated in this class. Any plagiarism, as defined by GSU’s Policy on Academic Honesty (available online at http://www2.gsu.edu/~wwwdos/codeofconduct_conpol.html), will result in a grade of F at least for the assignment (and most likely an F for the entire course at the instructor’s discretion). In addition, all university policies related to academic honesty apply.

Grading
Since your final course grade will be based predominantly on writing assignments and the grading of writing cannot be reduced to simple quantitative measures, I will grade your writing on a holistic basis. Each assignment will have specific grading criteria, which I will explain in class. Generally, however, the three general criteria below will be applied to all the major assignments:

Purpose: How effectively does the document accomplish its intended task?

• meet its goals and the demands of its context (both academic and organizational)? solve a problem or address a significant organizational need? help people?
• provide a sound argument in support if its claims?
• meet readers’ needs and expectations? Improve relations between people?
• provide relevant, useful, and accurate information?

Product: How well constructed is the document?

• orderly and coherent presentation of material?
• effective design and formatting? Correctness?
• effective use of visuals?
• professional tone and style?

Production: How effectively was the document produced?
♣ quality of planning, collaboration, research & invention, drafting, editing, proofreading?
The following is a general description of expectations for assignments for each grade:

A
Your project is of impeccable (or almost impeccable) quality in both content and format design, with no major weaknesses in any area. It provides adequate information that users need and effectively fulfills the intended purposes. Presentation is of professional quality. There’re few to no mechanical errors.

B
Your project is of high quality in most of the major areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes quite effectively. Presentation is quite professional. There’re only a few mechanical errors.

C
Your project is of reasonable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes to a large extent, although major deficiencies are observable. Presentation is of semi-professional quality. There’re some mechanical errors, but not to the extent of seriously affecting readers’ comprehension.

D
Your project is of acceptable quality in most areas. It fulfills the user’s needs and your intended purposes to some extent, but major deficiencies exist in several areas. Presentation quality is acceptable but low. There’re quite some mechanical errors.

F
Your project is unacceptable in quality. It does not fulfill the user’s needs or your intended purposes. Major deficiencies are observed in most areas. Presentation quality is poor, and there’re too many mechanical errors.

Assignment Submission
Here’re some general guidelines concerning assignment submission. Please follow them carefully.

• All assignments are to be turned in electronically, unless instructed otherwise. Generally, this means you email your assignment to me as an attachment either in Word or rtf format. The electronic submission benefits both you and me in several ways: you have some evidence of submission, plus the submission time; it’s easier for me to comment electronically on your project; and I tend to write a lot more electronically than with a pen.
• All assignment files must be named in specific ways, generally the assignment name followed by your last name in parentheses, e.g., “Intro(Gu).doc.” This is mainly for my convenience when saving your file.

When emailing me, make sure your subject line starts with our course number 8175 followed by the assignment name, e.g., “8175 Intro Memo Assignment.”

Grade Conversion